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United States of America (Cyberworld)
The United States of America is a fascist power in the dystopian cyberpunk future of GURPS' Cyberworld roleplaying game. Background 230 years ago in 2006, after a global economic crash called the "Grand Slam", the United States was on the verge of collapse. Martial law was declared in 2007 and extremist political parties began to rise. In 2010, the president was assassinated and was replaced by a far-right vice president. During Patterson's first administration, the United States invaded and conquered Cuba in 2013 using a Gulf of Tonkin-style pretext. The Patterson administration also manipulated things so that Congress drafted a bill to repeal the 22nd amendment which was ratified by the states in 2018 during his 2nd administration, removing term limits for presidents. Prior to his the government established in 2017, the National Emergency Resource Coordinating Commission). Which was given the mandate to oversee all production and commerce that the NERCC deemed to be essential to the security and prosperity of the United States. In 2020, President Patterson was reelected for a 3rd term and no presidential elections have happened since. 18 years later in 2024, part of America finally had enough and flash riots exploded across the United States. Martial law was declared in every city with 500,000 or more inhabitants. All local and state forces, including the National Guard were placed under the control of NERCC. Anyone who refused was removed from office or shot. NERCC-controlled federal forces used lethal force on the civilians and some National Guard units mutinied, resulting in urban battles. Only in Alaska were the federal forces defeated by the National Guard and its citizens, resulting in Alaska becoming a nearly independent country. This was all the plan of the Patterson administration which had manipulated things so that the people would explode in anger against the government, providing them with the excuse to get rid of the Constitution and establish a dictatorship. The uprising spread much faster than expected and was bigger too, but they managed to quash it and they got what they wanted. The constitutional government was replaced by a dictatorship called the "Provisional Government" and those politicians, judges, and government officials who oppose what was happening were either removed from office or eliminated. The United States has been a police state for the last two decades. Government Power is in the hands of the executive branch, where the Provisional President (ProvPres) is a former CEO, President Hammond. The president was "elected" by the members of the Provisional Congress (ProvCon), and only members of ProvCon or senior executives qualified for the position. It is a government dominated by the military-industrial complex, in which it is the military and the powerful megacorps which back the government with weapons and money. ProvCon is a rubber stamp legislature and unlike when it comes to the presidency there are scheduled elections for the position of Senator or House Representative. The government makes sure that the candidates who win are either supported by ProvGov or by one of the megacorps. In the few cases that someone they disapprove of wins, pretty soon that person dies. ProvGov is strongest in the MegaSprawl that runs from Maine to Georgia, and keeps a strong presence in other major urban complexes. In many parts of the country society has taken a neo-feudalistic nature, with the rich and powerful controlling the fates of the weak in their territory (factory workers, mine workers, farmers, etc). Society The United States of America in the mid-21st century is one in which citizens are rated by the government on a scale. Depending where you are on that citizenship scale are the privileges, benefits, and opportunities available to your or lack thereof, not to mention how you are treated by the government and the security forces. Approximately 3% in the continental 48 states are C-1 citizens, they are the elite among society who are rich, famous, and powerful, and include such valuable groups such as scientists. The middle class make up approximately 33% of the C-2 citizens and the working class are C-3 citizens, the majority at 52%. At the bottom, rated at C-4 and making up 12% are the outcasts, the underclass, and political dissidents. It is a nation in which the NERCC (whose agents are called "nerks") runs prison camps for dissidents that are a combination of ghetto and concentration camp. Where the government increasingly conducts trials using video referendums where citizens vote by inserting their cards into video machines, and in which said trails are becoming ever more violent as the condemned are forced to entertain the masses by participating in manhunts, gladiatorial games, etc. Industrial, labor, worker safety, and pollution laws and regulations have been suspended indefinitely. Corporations import at will low wage workers from American occupied Mexico to work in the factories and farms. Despite it being a dictatorship there is crime. Not only is there crime, but organized crime still operates in the United States. The dominant power in the underworld is "MafInc" which was formed by the American Mafia and their cousin syndicates back in Italy which relocated to the United States, leaving Europe to the Corsican Union and those local syndicates which joined their "Ill Unione". When the United States annexed Mexico, the local trafficking organizations were either absorbed or driven out. The Sinaloa Wars against the ones that refused to be assimilated, were as brutal as any low-intensity war in the Third World. Their power is challenged to varying degrees in certain parts of the country. For example on the West Coast by the Chinese "Triads" and in the city of Los Angeles by the CeeBees (a merger of the Crips and Bloods). Cuba & Mexico The United States is currently fighting a savage war against guerrillas in Cuba whom refuse to give up and are ferociously fighting the occupation forces. It's gone so long that some extremists in the US are clamoring for nuclear weapons to be used in Cuba. Mexico was annexed with the cooperation of the elites in Mexico, and it was divided up into 6 regions which together with Cuba have been given "reserved" statehood status. In Mexico, the citizens are rated along the same scale as in the United States with 1% being C-1, 18% are C-2, 57% being C-3, and 24% are C-4. Dissidents that cannot be eliminated without causing too much trouble are sent into permanent exile in Mexico. Those who are C-1 can travel freely into the USA and if you are C-2 getting a permit is not difficult and many find a way out of Mexico by getting a job at a megacorp. It is from the Mexican C-3 that the megacorps get their low cost labor, importing them into the United States. In the far south of Mexico, insurgents rose up against the United States and fought a brutal war for independence in 2027-2029. With the support of the South American power (Chilentina) and the Union of Central American States (UCAS), both of which were preparing to intervene militarily, the rebels won their independence. In 2032, the Treaty of Oaxaca was signed in which the US recognized "Mexico Libre" as an autonomous region of the UCAS. Cyberworld Setting In the world in which the fascist United States exists, it has been replaced as the superpower and is now one of several 2nd tier great powers. *'Russo-Japanese Economic Union': The richest and most powerful entity on Earth, the superpower of the mid-21st century. It's tech is unsurpassed in either quantity or quality. Though an alliance it is not one of equals. Within Japan are the R&D labs, the headquarters of the Korps (megacorporations - Keiretsus), and the top universities. In the Commonwealth of Independent States (Russia) is where the factories, mines, and refineries are located. Since they do not want the United States controlling the Panama Canal, they have been supporting the Union of Central American States. In addition they have been backing the rebellious autonomous US state of Alaska, keeping them safe from ProvGov retaliation. *'China': It has turned inward and isolationist after a revolution which ended a 8 year civil war (brought about by the global economic collapse of 2006), kicking out all foreigners and nationalizing their holdings in China. Technologically it is at the same level as the United States. They are the world leaders in genetic research and among their top exports are genetically modified plants and crops. It's a big exporter of goods that are copies of slightly outdated technology (e.g. computer chips) to the developing world. China is surrounded all along its border by pro-Chinese buffer states that are autonomous and are ruled by warlords. *'United Europe': Formed in 2000 from the European Community. It is dominated by Germany, the country whose technology is closest to being as cutting-edge as that of the Russo-Japanese alliance. *'Chilentina': Formed by the peaceful merger of Argentina and Chile, they are the dominant nation-state in South America. It's the main source of technology in Latin America whose products are in most fields equal to Eurasian standards. They don't want to see the United States expand further into Latin America and therefore support the poor but strategically located Union of Central American States. *'Central Asian Federation': The unofficial allies of the United States, another despotic and corrupt regime. One with nuclear weapons, that controls the former Soviet republics of Central Asia. It's regime foments trouble in the Middle East and the political factions within the CAF are racist, fascist, or Islamist. 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